AFRICA

Plans to scrap a tax exemption on overseas earnings have been watered down by the South African Treasury and a tax-free allowance of ZAR1m (£57,143, $76,003, €63,904) introduced instead following pressure from expats and interest groups.

In the furore over the removal of the tax exemption on foreign earnings, it has become clear that many South African expats are not fully aware of their existing tax obligations on offshore savings and investments and time is running out, warns Old Mutual Wealth’s David Denton.

A plan to scrap an exemption on taxing foreign employment income is not a “crazy proposal” when compared with other jurisdictions, the head of tax and financial sector policy at South Africa’s National Treasury has said.

Taxpayers in South Africa have less than a month to come clean and regularise any undisclosed or unauthorised foreign assets or income before the country’s Special Voluntary Disclosure Programme (SVDP) ends on 31 August.

Summer in the UK this year has been a brief affair, so it comes as no surprise that nearly two-thirds of British expats think about the weather when planning their moves abroad. But sunshine isn't the only factor prospective expats should consider.

Liquidators for collapsed Isle of Man-based property investment firm Louis Group have said that, following legal advice, they will not pursue claims against Louis Group IoM’s insurers, its parent company in South Africa or founder Alan Louis, reports local newspaper IOM Today.

Specialist long-term savings provider Hansard Global has continued to grow on a year-on-year basis despite a halt in new business expansion from the Middle East and Africa region in the fourth quarter.

After 12 years of printing monthly copies, International Adviser is going digital from September. This exciting development will allow us to shape our content differently as the markets around the world evolve.

South Africa’s decision to tax expats and overseas workers on their foreign income is totally unjust, highly discriminatory and achingly regressive, says deVere Group founder and chief executive Nigel Green.

South Africans living and working in no and low tax jurisdictions will no longer be exempt from paying tax on their overseas earnings from March 2019 under proposals from the country’s Revenue Services (Sars).

UK insurer Prudential is set to "redefine" the Nigerian life insurance industry after acquiring a majority stake in Zenith Life and forming exclusive bancassurance partnerships with Zenith Bank in Nigeria and Ghana.

With game-changing regulation on the horizon, Kieron McRae, development and brand director at South African advice firm Carrick Wealth, talks about how the industry and can only thrive by becoming more professional and investing in training the next generation of advisers.

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